Matt Matros

Founder

National Cleaning Collective (NCC)

NCC is micro private equity providing capital and support to owner/operators in the commercial cleaning & janitorial industry.

Portfolio includes:
- Cleaning Pros of America (Bradenton, FL)
- American Flooring Solutions (Sarasota, FL)
- WeClean WestCoast (Sarasota, FL)

Founder and General Partner

BrandRock

BrandRock helps consumer brand founders and executives sleep better at night by making sure their business has the insurance coverage that they think they have. We read the fine print.

Co-Founder

McKinsey & Company

External advisor to client service teams and clients in consumer-based businesses with an emphasis on innovation.

Senior Advisor

Qurate Retail Group

'Acqui-hired' by CEO to build new digital businesses for global leader in vCommerce. And according to my final review, I "achieved what many thought was impossible."

SVP and Founder, Qurate Digital Ventures

Keurig Dr Pepper Inc.

Consulting for Keurig Dr Pepper on LIMITLESS and other innovation as part of exiting LIMITLESS in January 2020.

Consulting Entrepreneur

LIMITLESS® (acquired by Keurig Dr Pepper)

I started LIMITLESS® in March 2016 and sold the business to Keurig Dr Pepper (NASDAQ: KDP) in January 2020. I work with KDP on a consultative basis on LIMITLESS and other innovation. 

The LIMITLESS signature product - Lightly Caffeinated Sparkling Water - is helping people all over the country to #ditchdietsoda once and for all. Each can has zero calories, zero sugar, zero artificial flavors and 35mg of clean caffeine.

Available nationwide at Walmart and other fine retailers.

Protein Bar and Kitchen (acquired by L Catterton)

Founder and Board Director of healthy-food quick serve chain. I sold the business to private equity firm L Catterton in winter 2013. Protein Bar & Kitchen® (PBK) focuses on helping people everywhere live the healthy lifestyle they want to live through a balanced menu of blended drinks, wholesome quinoa bowls, salads, raw juices, and our signature Protein Bar-ritos.

Founder & Board Director

Shopflix

I dreamt up Shopflix as a "modern day QVC." Ultimately 'aqui-hired' by QVC parent company, Qurate Retail Group.

Kraft Foods

Sr. Associate Brand Manager

L'Oreal USA

Marketing Intern

Founder with 3 exits in B2C now playing two hands in B2B (insurance and commercial janitorial). | I post daily lessons & learnings that are your shortcuts.

Founder with two 8-figure exits plus an ‘acqui-hire’. My lessons & learnings are your shortcut.

Currently building unsexy B2B businesses in commercial cleaning and insurance. 

My inspirations are Scott Galloway and Fareed Zakaria and The Economist. 

I’d aspire to be the “Rick Rubin for entrepreneurs.”

These opinions are purely my own and not of any of the companies I am affiliated with.

NCC is micro private equity providing capital and support to owner/operators in the commercial cleaning & janitorial industry.

Yesterday in therapy, I admitted something I’ve been hiding for 28 years.

In 1997, when I was a freshman at USC, I did what a lot of freshmen do: I pledged a fraternity.

Two months into the semester, I got “dinged” — kicked out before initiation.

For almost three decades, I’ve told a different story:

 “I left the fraternity to take an internship at a sports agency. Always kind of regretted leaving…”.

That wasn’t true.

I didn’t leave.
I was asked to leave.
I don’t think my mom even knows that.

On paper, it’s a small moment in a long life. 

But for an 18-year-old who had lost his dad at 11, who was craving belonging and male connection, it was a setback.

Worse, there was no explanation. No feedback. No “here’s why.”

Just a brief conversation on a beer-stained floor where an older brother (dude name Blair, from Solana Beach) told me I didn’t belong.

So I filled in the gaps myself:

Maybe I was too chubby
Not attractive enough
Bad at drinking
Too awkward

Whatever the reason, the conclusion I absorbed was:

“You don’t fit in. And that’s your fault.”

For 28 years, I’ve chased belonging in different forms — companies, groups, labels, titles, achievements. 

I’ve also found myself in places where, again, I just didn’t fit: big PE firms, large public media companies, YPO, certain rooms where I felt a little “off.”

Yesterday, finally saying this out loud, I arrived at a different conclusion:

It’s okay not to fit.

“Fit” is not a moral judgment. It doesn’t mean you’re broken. 

It just means that environment, that group, that culture wasn’t built for you — and maybe you weren’t built for it.

The strange irony is that, as an entrepreneur, I’ve had to make these same “fit” calls about employees, vendors, even customers (not to mention ex-girlfriends). 

I’ve told people, “This just isn’t the right fit” — without always appreciating how loaded that phrase can feel on the other side.

I’m 46 years old and just now using a LinkedIn post to say:

I got dinged.
I felt ashamed.
I lied about it for years.
And I’m finally okay with not fitting in.

If this resonates with you: you’re not alone, and you’re not broken.

Sometimes, it’s just the wrong room.

Oh - and in case you were wondering, my usual "Therapy Thursday" was yesterday because of the holiday lol 

📷 Me as a 19 or 20 year old with my closest buddies from USC. It wasn't part of a fraternity, but we def belonged in Vegas that weekend lol

Founder with 3 exits in B2C now actively buying SMBs | I post daily lessons & learnings that are your shortcuts.

One of the big myths American entrepreneurs love to repeat:

“Saudi Arabia (and the Gulf) are overflowing with capital just waiting to be invested in U.S. startups.”

Reality is almost the opposite.

The serious money in Saudi — whether it’s private investors or sovereign wealth vehicles like the PIF — is overwhelmingly focused on Saudi Arabia itself.

It’s not a giant ATM for the rest of the world. 
It’s fuel for a national transformation.

The mandate is clear:
- Build infrastructure.
- Create jobs.
- Support a young, fast-growing population.
- Enable a real middle class and family formation inside the Kingdom.

That means capital going into housing, logistics, tourism, entertainment, healthcare, education, advanced manufacturing — all the pipes and platforms a modern economy needs.

So if you’re an American founder dreaming of “Saudi money,” here’s the mindset shift:

Don’t think, “How do I get Saudi capital to fund my idea back home?”

Think, “How can my company bring capabilities into Saudi — technology, know-how, jobs, training — and help build what they’re trying to build?”

Saudi Arabia isn’t just a pool of capital. 

It’s a country in the middle of a massive buildout. When I was there it made me imagine what it was like in America in the early 1900s. 

If you stop treating it like a checkbook and start treating it like a partner, the conversation changes very quickly.

📷 My in Riyadh last year with the Saudi Ministry of Investment, which oversees the Saudi sovereign wealth fun (PIF)

#entrepreneurship #SaudiArabia #emergingmarkets #startups #mbs #vision2030

Koia

The secret behind Koia is simplicity. Every product starts with 100% plant-based protein made even more delicious with simple, natural ingredients you’ll actually recognize. The results are craveable, on-the-go protein products that are free of dairy, soy and the high sugar content. Put simply, we believe in the preserving the positive energy of plants and reducing the things you don’t want. When you do that you get a healthier protein, naturally. When you do that you get Koia.

Co-Founder / CEO

Phusion Projects

Phusion Projects, LLC is a Chicago-based beverage company that sells its products – including Four Loko, Moskato Life and Earthquake – nationwide. 

The company is a small business success story! Phusion Projects was founded with a Small Business Administration (SBA) loan in 2005 by Chris Hunter, Jaisen Freeman and Jeff Wright.  Today, it is a thriving national company. Additionally, Phusion Projects is proud to contribute to thousands of jobs across the U.S., including at hundreds of beer distributors. To learn more about Phusion, please visit our website: http://www.phusionprojects.com.

From the company’s inception, Phusion Projects has been committed to making contributions to communities, operating as a responsible member of the alcoholic beverage industry and setting unmatched standards in this regard.  More information is available on Phusion’s corporate giving programs at www.phusioncares.com and the company’s responsible drinking efforts at www.phusionresponsibility.com.

Managing Partner

Naturally San Diego

Founding Board Member

Blavod Extreme

Area Manager

Four Loko changed the trajectory of my life. 

Not in the same way it changed the lives of thousands of college fans who had epic,  half-crazed nights of memory loss…

But it was a wild experience of its own. 
A turning point in my life. 
My wakeup call. 

Because I invented Four Loko. 

I helped grow its parent company and generated billions of dollars in sales. I fought government agencies to keep it legal, took dozens of life-altering chances on it, and even got fired while trying to keep it alive.  

But the ups and downs I experienced didn’t start with the idea for a caffeine + alcohol beverage. They started in early childhood. Compounded across my upbringing, my family life, and the businesses I built. Then hit me like a truck as my world fell into chaos.

Today, I’m a father, investor, and CEO of Koia plant-based protein drinks, which hit over $100M in annual retail sales and is available across the nation. 

The ups and downs haven’t stopped—I’ve just realized that they’re a part of life as an entrepreneur and a human being. And I’ve gotten better at rolling with the punches and building businesses that can do the same.

That’s what I talk about in my new book, Blackout Punch: an Entrepreneur’s Journey from Chaos to Clarity.

In this book you’ll learn: 

– How I went from a blue-collar upbringing to competing with some of the largest companies in the world
– Why I started selling drugs as a teenager (and what it taught me about entrepreneurship)
– The unconscious fatal mindsets that held me back as an entrepreneur, and how I overcame them
– The MOST important decision you can make when launching a business (and how I f*cked it up completely)
– How ayahuasca helped me reconnect with myself, repair my marriage, and turn a massive failure into my next successful business
– What you definitely should NOT do when launching a business

I wrote my experiences down in this book in the hopes that they’ll encourage you: whether you’re an entrepreneur, a company leader, a Four Loko fan, a health enthusiast and Koia fan, or just a curious individual wanting to read some crazy guy’s life story…

But my secret wish is that this book will change your life. 

Because I know it changed mine. 

Click the link at the top of my profile ☝️ to preorder Blackout Punch (on sale now).

Christopher Hunter

My wife Melanie Hunter launched her brand, Alii, out of passion.  

Passion to address an unknown issue, Pharmaceutical Induced Nutrient Deficiencies.  In a nutshell, the brands mission is to help people live their best life and feel better while taking a prescription drug (out of either necessity or choice). 

The product side is strong — what she needs now is help bringing Alii to life on TikTok and TikTok Shop.

We’re looking for one person, not an agency. Ideally someone who:

✅ Currently works on high-growth consumer brands on Tik Tok Shops

 ✅ Is both strategic and hands-on — understands the algorithm, shops, creators, live selling, hooks, conversion mechanics

 ✅ Wants to take on a meaningful side project with a founder who’s all-in

 ✅ Can help build a repeatable content engine + early traction on TikTok Shop

If you know someone who fits that description — or you are that person — please DM me or comment below so we can connect.

This is a fun opportunity to help a strong early-stage brand level up in a fast-moving category.

Founding, Scaling, and Investing in Pioneering Brands | Author of Blackout Punch: An Entrepreneur’s Journey from Chaos to Clarity I Co-Founder & CEO @Koia I Co-Founder of @Four Loko

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